Michael Swickard's new novel about New Mexico

China has overtaken Japan to become the world's second-largest economy, the fruit of three decades of rapid growth that has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Depending on how fast its exchange rate rises, China is on course to overtake the United States and vault into the No.1 spot sometime around 2025, according to projections by the World Bank, Goldman Sachs and others. China came close to surpassing Japan in 2009 and the disclosure by a senior official that it had now done so comes as no surprise. Indeed, Yi Gang, China's chief currency regulator, mentioned the milestone in passing in remarks published on Friday.
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July 30 (Bloomberg) -- As President Barack Obama thrashes Republicans for allowing “special interest takeovers of our elections,” his Democratic Party is benefiting from millions of campaign dollars brought in by lobbyists. Lobbyists raised at least $1.5 million in the first six months of the year to help elect Democrats to the House, according to a report from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. That was the most of any congressional fundraising committee and almost three times as much as House Republicans. Read more here:

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (July 30)-The New Mexico State men’s basketball team begins practice for the preseason trip to Canada, Monday, Aug. 2. The Aggies are traveling to Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Aug. 8-16, and are allowed 10 practices prior to the start of exhibition play. In Montreal, the Aggies are slated to open the tour against McGill University and Vanier College, Aug. 10. NM State then faces McGill and Dawson College, Aug. 11, and a professional team in Montreal, Aug. 12, before meeting Carleton University in Ottawa, Aug. 13-14. Dates and games for the exhibition trip are subject to change. Read more here:

California’s Democratic leaders plan to unveil a budget proposal to erase a $19.1 billion deficit as early as next week that may include a 1 percentage-point rise in the personal income-tax rate. The increase would affect all taxpayers except those in the highest tax bracket, according to Senate President Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat. To make it more palatable to voters, California’s highest-in-the-nation sales tax would be cut simultaneously by 2.5 percentage points. Unlike sales levies, state income taxes are deductible from federal returns. The swap would add as much as $3 billion to the general fund. “The idea is to increase some taxes that are already federally deductible and to allow taxpayers to take advantage of that while lowering some taxes that are not federally deductible, while the state general fund can gain $2 billion to $3 billion for education and other vital services,” Steinberg said in an interview yesterday. Read more here:

The White House says it’s finally ready to consider new ideas for what to do about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Still absent from the government’s agenda is any serious effort to hold anyone accountable for their ruin or investigate why they collapsed. Back in December 2003, after Freddie disclosed what in retrospect was a relatively mild accounting scandal, its regulator published an exhaustive 185-page report cataloguing the company’s financial-reporting abuses. In May 2006, the same regulator disclosed similar findings about Fannie’s books in a report covering 348 pages. Strangely, there’s no similar examination under way today by the Federal Housing Finance Agency into the reasons why Fannie and Freddie imploded in 2008, or whether anyone at the companies did anything improper.

That’s probably because the agency and its predecessor, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, bear responsibility for letting the companies resume their natural tendency to run amok.

By Diane Denish - Jobs are not just an issue in a campaign – they are what helps people get up in the morning, they put food on their dinner tables and put their kids through college. We are in the midst of a global economic slowdown not seen since the Great Depression. New Mexicans are hurting. I was a small business owner. I know what it was like to hire someone and give them a job. I also know the pain of tough times and having to shrink my company and workforce – and sometimes not paying myself just to keep the doors open. Read more here:

by Michael Swickard - “American consumers have no problem with carcinogens, but they will not purchase any product, including floor wax, that has fat in it.” – Dave Barry

Americans have a love/hate relationship with every aspect of fat, from fat cats on. They hate fat and love donuts. I am not casting any stones from my fat glass house. However, some have said that because of the potential extra health care cost, if you are fat, government must save you from you and also save us from you. Government officials say they have a mandate to do so because of health care reforms that put their noses right over our bathroom scales and into our refrigerators. Example: in the German state of Saxony, according to Reuters, a member of parliament said it is unfair and unsustainable for the German taxpayers to carry the cost of treating obesity-related illnesses in their public health system. That is an interesting statement that seems to say that if you eat that Twinkie we will not buy your Insulin. How far are we willing to take this approach? Read more

Fresh off a story by Larry Barker at KRQE TV of her extensive use of a gas guzzling jet owned by the taxpayers read more here: we get this news story regarding Diane Denish from the New Mexico Independent - New Mexico should shift its state fleet to high-efficiency vehicles, increase the number of tax credits available to clean energy companies and make a priority out of starting a green-job business incubator, according to a green jobs plan Lt. Gov. Diane Denish laid out Thursday. Denish also advocated using a portion of tax revenue to pay for incentives and programs focused on helping to fund renewable-energy products and creating “centers of excellence” for green-energy development at the state’s research universities. Read more here:

From McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — A special House of Representatives subcommittee on Thursday outlined 13 counts of ethics violations against Rep. Charles Rangel, the former chairman of the powerful tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. The charges place his political career in jeopardy and could put Democrats on the defensive as November's elections approach. The case against the 80-year-old, 20-term Democrat from New York unfolded in a trial-like setting of a House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct subcommittee following incorrect reports that Rangel's lawyers had struck a deal to avoid an embarrassing public reading of the charges against him. Still, Democratic and Republican subcommittee members said they took no joy in prosecuting the affable, backslapping Harlem clubhouse politician almost everyone affectionately calls "Charlie." "He earned the Purple Heart and Bronze Star (in the Korean War) for his bravery. He was a fatherless high school dropout who went from pushing a hand truck in the Garden District of New York City to becoming one of the most powerful — and well-liked — figures on Capitol Hill," said Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala., the ranking Republican on the subcommittee. "But Mr. Rangel's life story is not why we are here today . . . "Read more

From Newsmax.com by David A Patten - Former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich warned Thursday that President Obama and congressional Democrats appear to be on the verge of repeating the same mistakes that aggravated the Great Depression, adding that letting the Bush tax cuts expire would prove "very dangerous" for the nation's economy. "This was exactly the mistake made in 1937 and 1938, and it created a second mini-Depression. I think it's very dangerous, and I think the simple battle cry ought to be no tax increase in 2011, period. Keep current tax law exactly as it is through 2011," said Gingrich. Read more

From the New Mexico Independent - Diane Denish would not sell the New Mexico state jet if she’s elected governor, her campaign told The Independent Thursday. “Because of the sheer number of similar jets that are currently on the market, Diane does not believe now is a good time to sell the jet,” Denish said in a statement released by her campaign. The lieutenant governor also defended her use of the jet, saying, “New Mexico is more than just Santa Fe and Albuquerque, …Many of the trips I have taken were small business forums to bring small businesses together and help them find access to capital and cut red tape. I will never stop advocating for rural New Mexico — and to advocate for rural New Mexico, sometimes you have to get out to rural New Mexico.” Larry Barker of KRQE in Albuquerque suggest there could be an alternative take on the use of the jet. Watch a video of his investigative report here:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is the world's worst cleaning lady. How has she fulfilled her vaunted promise to "drain the swamp" and preside over the "most ethical Congress in history"? By shrugging her shoulders, downplaying the gravity of myriad ethics charges against corruptocrat Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel and waiting for the "political chips" to "fall where they may." Imagine a custodial service that fixed toilet clogs by letting the overflowing waste and polluted waters "fall where they may." Read more here:

by Robert Redford in the Huffington Post - A small minority of Senators robbed America of a cleaner, more prosperous future last week. In the middle of the biggest oil disaster in American history, the hottest summer on record, and a war with an oil-rich nation, this group of cynics blocked efforts to pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation. This was the moment brimming with potential for new jobs, a more robust economy and cleaner environment -- this bill would have guided America down a profoundly safer and more productive path. This was our moment to create two million clean energy jobs here in the United States. This was our moment to outpace China in the clean energy market that will dominate the 21st century. This was our time to slash our oil imports in half. This was our time to confront the perils of climate change, which despite head-in-the sand-denial, is in fact happening. Read more

EL PASO -- The violence in Juárez has touched a prominent Borderland family. Roberto Urrea Caraveo, 37, was gunned down on a busy avenue near the country club neighborhood Wednesday evening, Chihuahua state officials said. Fernando Alberto García Urrutia, 39, also was shot and died later at a hospital. A third man was wounded and was in a hospital Thursday, state officials said. The family of Urrea is prominent in both Juárez and El Paso. Family members did not want to comment, citing safety concerns. Urrea's mother, Rosario Caraveo, comes from an affluent family of bankers. His aunt, Victoria "Vicky" Caraveo is a women's-rights advocate. She is the former director of the Chihuahua state Women's Institute. Roberto Urrea, the victim's father, was president of the maquiladora association in the late 1990s. He was also director of corporate services at Rio Grande Travel Centers and most recently a manager at the Las Cruces Sun-News. Read more here:

Coming to a city near you? Like Las Cruces?
From the El Paso Times - EL PASO -- Tax rates for El Paso residents will probably rise -- or services will be cut -- if police do not agree to more than $1 million in concessions. The police union will tally votes on whether to reopen its contract with the city this afternoon. After days of hearings and $3.5 million in cuts, the city's operating budget is still $1 million higher than it was last year. City Manager Joyce Wilson on Thursday said the city must cut services -- or get concessions from police -- if it is to find the savings. Read more here: